spelling bee

American  

noun

1. a spelling competition won by the individual or team spelling the greatest number of words correctly; spelldown.

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spelling bee British  

noun

1. a contest in which players are required to spell words according to orthographic conventions

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Etymology

Origin of spelling bee

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

A lot of them had excelled in school: We talked to a boy that had just won a spelling bee, for example.

From Slate • Mar. 20, 2026

In 1992, Vice President Dan Quayle corrected a 12-year-old spelling bee contestant on camera, incorrectly instructing him to add the letter “e” onto the end of the word “potato.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 11, 2026

Also worth noting: I won my grade-wide spelling bee in first grade by correctly spelling "hamburger."

From Salon • Mar. 8, 2025

Nearly 70% of Indian-born U.S. residents arrived after 2000, according to census data, and that dovetails with the surge in Indian American spelling bee champions.

From Seattle Times • May 25, 2024

Claire’s recent letter told about the school spelling bee that Liyana had won the year before, a new singer that everybody liked, crushes and anticrushes.

From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye